Page 30 - EngineerIt May 2021

OPINION

REGULATORY REPORTING...

whose problem is it anyway?

By Steyn Basson, Synthesis Director of Integration and Products

hen I was a teenager I loved to read. I still do, but an abundance of audio- of people that can do it, you don’t want
books, on-demand television shows, podcasts and general work means to be the first to volunteer. What if you
WI don’t get to do it as often as I used to. One of the main reasons I loved now become responsible for this complex
reading was because of (amongst others) an amazing writer called Douglas Adams. He engagement and you fail? What if you
let me in on little inside jokes and ideas that I was blind to before, but which I suddenly become the scapegoat? Not to mention
started noticing everywhere (see “Baader-Meinhof phenomenon” for more details). time commitments and the like that might
Amongst this treasure trove of information and mind-blowing nuggets, one concept follow if you do volunteer.
has probably stuck with me longer and changed me more than any other: The concept SEP is short for “Somebody Else’s
of SEP. Problem”, and it is one of the most
What is SEP? Simply put, SEP means that if something strange is going on, which amazing cloaking technologies in
a lot of people could be noticing at the same time as you, you don’t necessarily want to existence. The obvious (but unlikely or
be the one to stick up your hand. What if you’re wrong? After all, nobody ever got locked complex) becomes invisible if protected
away for NOT pointing out the pink elephant in a tutu in the room. by SEP. SEP is also the reason you are
SEP is also the idea that if there is something difficult that has to be done, and lots probably more likely to get help when
suffering an injury on a road where there
is only one other person that can help, as
opposed to in a crowded street.
I have found SEP all around me
growing up, from everybody suddenly
intently studying the windows, lights, floor
and everything in between when being
asked to volunteer an answer in class,
to critical (but tricky) projects struggling
to get approval because no one wants
to be the one that flagged a project to go
ahead if it involves the risk of failing.
The most recent place I have found
SEP is in the regulatory reporting space
which is especially prone to it, mainly
due to this being an area with complex
requirements, very little chance of praise
if you do get it right, a (perceived) lack
of value-add to your business (after all,
safety belts and airbags add no value
to your car - until you need them), and a
very high probability of getting blamed if
you get it wrong.
Failure to take ownership in turn
causes easily controllable situations to
explode into full-blown emergencies; it
leads to finger-pointing and blame games
and maybe most importantly, to penalties
and other real-world consequences that
could have been avoided.

EngineerIT | May 2021 | 28